For much of the 1990s and beyond, senior year for a group of SUNY New Paltz students did not end on graduation day.

They were the journalism interns for the Legislative Gazette, a publication staffed by New Paltz students and dedicated to providing in-depth coverage of state government. Its current editor, incidentally, is James Gormley, a journalism professor at SUNY New Paltz whose first professional job was as a reporter for the Wallkill Valley Times.

While other graduates packed up their belongings and headed off to start the next chapter of their lives, the Gazette interns stayed behind. Their semester did not end until the legislative session ended, and that did not happen until the state budget was adopted. During the heyday of the Mario Cuomo years, budget negations could drag on well into the summer. In 2004, they didn’t wrap things up in Albany until August 11.

At this writing, the state budget is 12 days late and counting. That pales by comparison to August, but people have taken notice that New York has not had an on-time budget since Gov. Kathy Hochul took office in 2021.

One of the most pressing concerns stemming from the delay in passing the budget is the uncertainty it injects into our schools. Every year, schools across the state rely on state aid as a crucial component of their budgets. This aid is not just a financial lifeline; it’s the difference between maintaining vital programs, hiring necessary staff, and ensuring the quality of education for our children, or facing severe cutbacks and compromises.

The timing of the state budget is particularly critical for school districts because it often coincides with their own budget votes. Without a clear understanding of how much funding they will receive from the state, school administrators are left scrambling to make educated guesses, often erring on the side of caution by planning for the worst-case scenario. This uncertainty undermines the integrity of the budgeting process at the local level, making it difficult for school boards to make informed decisions and effectively allocate resources.

But it’s not just our schools that suffer the consequences of a late budget. The uncertainty and instability created by the delay erode public trust in our government and undermine confidence in our elected officials’ ability to govern effectively.

Businesses, nonprofits, and local governments alike rely on the state budget as a roadmap for their own financial planning. When that roadmap is delayed or nonexistent, it disrupts economic activity and stymies growth, further compounding the challenges facing our state.

The late adoption of the budget is not merely a bureaucratic inconvenience; it’s a disservice to the people of New York. It represents a failure of leadership, a breakdown in the fundamental duty of our elected officials to govern responsibly and in the best interests of their constituents. It’s time for our legislators to set aside partisan differences, prioritize the needs of the people they serve, and fulfill their obligation to pass a budget that serves the common good.

As New Yorkers, we deserve better. We deserve a state government that functions efficiently, transparently, and accountably. We deserve a budgeting process that prioritizes the needs of our communities and ensures that every child has access to a quality education. Anything less is simply unacceptable. It’s time for our leaders to do their jobs and pass the budget on time.